In August, when the web site Wikileaks released its Afghan War Diary, I commented on some of the legal issues it raised. In light of what I increasingly think is a shrill reaction by the US government to being exposed by information that no one contends is untruthful, I believe it is worth reiterating the things I said in August.

A copy of my earlier post can be found here. And I very much urge people with an interest in what Wikileaks is doing to consider carefully for themselves the Constitutional issues as they were considered by the US Supreme Court in 1971. The First Amendment to the US Constitution is viewed not only in the United States but in many other parts of the world with near-reverance. The issues are not simple ones and to understand where the United States truly stands, not only according to the highly publicized views of the executive and legislative branches of its government, but also as constrained by its judicial branch, it really is necessary to read all of the various concurrences and dissents. The Court’s opinions in New York Times Co. v. United States can be found here.